—_ Howe now

SHOP STUDENTS from Caledonia Senior Secondary school braved pouring rain last week to
prepare the fou ‘for oat-bridge spanning Howe Creek.. ‘Lumber was donated by.Skeena;
Sawnills, concrates rom the city,:and’plenty of elbow grease cintinues to come: ‘the
students. They're; jag the bridge as part of an overall plan to revitalize the creek and create
system of' ‘ature trails along it. eee

‘Top

* TERRACE — Atlin MLA Larry

Guno says a lot of answers are
needed about “the harrowing
flight of a Canadian Airlines-737

jet that had to force-land in a ~

snowstorm at the Smithers air-
port two weeks ago because it
was low on fuel,

Guno was on the Oct..11 flight
and says he's asking the NDP’s -
transportation critic to find:out.
what regulations govern fuelling
of passenger aircraft. He sug-_
gested more stringent -regula- '
tions might be advisable at nor--
thwest airports, where’ planes,
are frequently turned away due,
to bad weather.,

Cloud cover at the Terrace air-
port foreed the Canadian
Airlines jet — which was travell-

ing from Smithers to Terrace —.

to execute a missed-approach
procedure and return’ to
Smithers. But
spokesmen say there the pilot
was forced to abandon ‘the
Missed-approach procedure
and jand at the Smithers airport
in a snow squall because the -
plane was low on fuel...

“It was the most harrowing
landing I’ve ever-experienced,”
Guno said Thursday. ‘And [’ve
actually experienced a landing

company °

Terrace Standard, Wednesday, Octo 24, 1990 — ~ Page AB

3un. ina

where we Innded on just one

engine — that was.a non-event ,.

compared to this one, [ was
shaken very’ badly. "
“My problem is that when we
took off from Smithers it was
already snowing,” he said,

“Given that I wonder about the

advisability of taking off with just
enough fuel to try Terrace and
come back again,”’

Guiio says he will be deman-

ding answers about what hap-
pened, adding he, wants to
know if the ¢ company was trying
to save fuel costs by not leaving

_Smithers with more in the tanks.

ay think passengers in the nor-

‘ thwest'area deserve to have an

answer to that as a result of this
incident,’’ he continued.
“Passenger safety should be the
_ top priority, If they’re cutting
fuel down, I mean that’s crazy,”®
He ‘said the incident

-underlines the need for ,better
‘guidance systems at northwest

airports. ‘I think it’s time. We're

“just waiting for an accident to

happen.”
Guno's questions were

echoed by two passengers, .

' “Who the hell put us into

those circumstances?’’

demanded passenger George

Under investigation

TERRACE — Three separate
Investigations have begun into
the Canadian Airlines flight to
Terrace that force-landed In a
snow squall two weeks ago after
running low on fuel,

In addition to an in-company
investigation, two federal agen-
cies began examining the cir-
cumstances of how the Boeing
737 with 58 passengers and five
crew aboard was forced to land
in severe weather conditions
Oct, 11 at the Smithers airport.

The Canadian Transporta-
tion Accident Investigation and
Safety Board will piece together
the details about the flight over
the next several months.

’ ““There’s enough interest in it
to merit an investigation, but
it’s too ‘early to presuppose how
serious’ jt" is,” ‘sald board in-
vestigator Richard Newcombe.

Although the bulk of the in-
vestigation will be complete in 2

month, he said a final report is
not expected for about a year.

Meanwhile, the company has
grounded the pilot of the jet un-
il its in-house investigation is
complete, according to Cana-
dian’s public affairs spokesman
Gerry Goodrich,

Taking pilots off active duty
is normal whenever an in-
vestigation of cockpit pro-
cedures is underway, he said.

Transport Canada is also car-
Tying out its own Ottawa-based
investigation into the flight,

A. ,Canadian Airlines
spokesman said last week the jet
was carrying the minimum re-
quired fuel load,

Legislation requires
passenger jets to, carry enough

fuel to reach their destination
and an alternate: airport, plus:
enough reserves’for 45 minutes:

of cruising time, Such reserves
would likely have put Prince
George within reach.

Doulis, a Smithers ‘high school
teacher. “Whatever happened
“there should not ‘have -happen-
ed, We don’t need to sugar-coat
it — we need to stop it from hap-

pening again.” |
“You'd. think there'd be a

huge margin of fuel there,” he

added. ‘The scary: thing is the
possibility . ‘of this repeating
itself. Because that’s what the
weather is like up here.”

Doulis and: Walter Bucher,
another passenger on board,
said the pilot seemed to be: lost
over the Smithers airport, trying
to spot the. runway through
breaks in the clouds.’ Bucher
said the plane descended: to
land at least five times,’ twice
aborting a landing when field —
not runway Appeared
beneath them,

“T thought we were done for,”
said Bucher, a CN Rail
locomotive engineer, of one mo-
ment when the plane was head-
ed towards an embankment
near the: Bulkley River. *'You
could have. reached down and
touched the trees — and that’s
not an exaggeration, We were
that close.”

He said the pilot gunned the
engines at the fast moment,
sending a deep shudder
through the plane and laun-
ching it into a steep climb.

“Once we cleared that ‘bank
we were wheeling around,”’ he
said, ‘It was really hairy — it

_ was like Top Gun in a 737."

“We were doing-like banked
turns and flipping right over to
the other side and banking the
other way,”” Bucher said. ‘'The
wings were vertical — I’m not
kidding — another 10 degrees
and we would have been more
upside down.”

Doulis said the pilot was flying
the jet like a stunt plane. “‘Theré
was incredible jockeying,’’: he
said, ‘‘It was insane. You had
the feeling this was not a con-
trolled situation,”

The violent manoeuvres even
upset the flight crew, Bucher
said, noting one of the flight at-
tendants was crying.

When the plane finally stop-
ped after skidding the length of
the runway, the crew merely an-
nounced sefreshnients :: would:
be: served. inside,’Bucher: said::
“The guy in front of me said, ‘I
hope they sell clean underwear
in there,’””

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